So I accidentally rear ended a trailer while driving a Mercedes sprinter. The trailer was way longer than I assumed so the truck hauling it came to a complete stop at the oncoming light way sooner than I thought it would. I glanced at my passenger to ask something and when I looked back I realized I should have been braking already. A sedan may have been able to stop in time or enough to make the collision a ding but the Mercedes was a diesel engine heading for a metal wall with no chance of stopping in time. I was not speeding. I was not looking away from the road for longer than 1.2 seconds. I know I shouldn't have looked away but man shit happens. I slammed on the brakes and crashed into them enough to dent in the bottom of the trailer door and card fold the hood of the Mercedes an inch or two and the bottom bumper was totally tucked in by the bottom lip of the trailer. No leaks or engine issues. No airbags deployed. Everyone was fine. It didn't look pretty but thank goodness everyone was okay and being nice to eachother about it.
Cop came to take a statement. I said pretty much what I said here but I'm nervous about how much it will be used against me that I had looked away from the road to glance at my passenger. That could be blown out to sound like I wasn't even trying to pay attention to the road.
I got drug tested and passed. I was suppose to fill out a report for the company and sign a form saying I was refusing medical treatment. But my boss said to go home after and not come back tomorrow. He said I was a negligent driver and I must have been speeding to tear up the Mercedes like that. He said he will say when I can come back. It was not a formal suspension where i was given anything in writing. He didn't even tell me to my face. He told the supervisor to tell me. I didn't understand how he could say those things. He hasn't even asked me what happened. They had no way of proving I was speeding as the speed isn't monitored on the van. There is no camera recording.
I had co workers with me who know it was an unfortunate accident and I wasn't driving like an ass and never do. I don't have a clue when I'm suppose to be able to work. I need the money and they have left me with no answers about what is happening to me. I got mad and shredded what I had managed to write. It's not like anyone was going to read it. It would have been filed away into the void. This is a small company that doesn't know how to play by the book. I went home after that.
I figure if they want to know what happened they can ask me, but apparently my genius boss already knows what happend so why bother. I'm stressed out. I wish I knew my rights. I wish it felt like it even mattered. I wish I hadn't been already stressed out and had braked in time. What a shit day.